Panel Discussion on "Countermeasure to Recession in Translation Industry"

"We" in the Presentation 1 is Product Supplier, such as Oracle or Sun, while "We" in the Presentation 2 is Translation Company and Translator. As far as I understand, it is more like "Translator". Mr. Nakamura illustrated the gap in QCD (Quality, Cost, and Delivery) expectation among three parties, Product Supplier, Translation Company, and Translator. Oh, I am very familiar with this gap ... I understand the needs of each party. But sometimes I have to say "Please do anything you can to meet our schedule" or "Please keep the cost under control by all means". Thinking in Translator's shoes, I would feel so frustrated like "what is she thinking !? Does she really expect such a volume can be completed within such a limited time frame !?"... Now, let me discuss more about the gap in QCD in the next blog entry.

Mr. Inoguchi walked us through what Translators can do to settle the gap. As I wrote "settle", not "fill in", he suggested Translators to find the best partner for themselves, instead of doing everything they can do to meet the unreasonable customer requests. Junior translators should not focus on the speed. The speed should be improved only after they spent enough time to keep the good quality.

I cannot agree with Inoguchi-san more than that. It is totally different 1) an experienced translator puts higher priority to the speed while keeping the quality under control, and 2) a junior translator does anything possible to meet the schedule. The difference is whether or not the one knows what he/she did and did not. You finish your work, and feel you did everything you could do in this limited time. Now, can you summarize what to do to improve the quality if you have more time ? If you answer Yes, you are in 1) case. If not, 2) case. "Taking more time" cannot be an answer.

The summary list should not be the "disclaimer" telling what you cannot do because of the restriction. The list should be "RFE" (Request For Enhancement). You could suggest the customer "If you have more time or cost, it is highly recommended to shoot these problems. Here is how-to, and the expected time and cost." Then, you will have higher possibility to get another job

Well, the entry is longer now, so let me write about how we can fill in the gap in QCD in the next entry.